


First Steps Into a Brave New World

by Sadbhyl



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-08
Updated: 2011-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-21 04:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/220784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sadbhyl/pseuds/Sadbhyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quiet moment for Gwen and Owen in the aftermath</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Steps Into a Brave New World

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: No temporal/spatial intersections were harmed in the making of this fic. Any injured copyrights were unintentional
> 
> Notes: Spoilers through 1x13 End of Days. It’s amazing what you can come up with on enough cold medicine…
> 
> Originally published January 3, 2007

Owen leaned on his elbows against the railing in autopsy, oblivious to the room below him. The Hub was unnaturally quiet. Not in the way it was when everyone was focused on the job in hand. Not even the way it was when everyone had gone for the day, leaving him alone with his thoughts and the dinosaur. It was as though the heart of the place had gone silent, leaving only an empty husk behind.

A quiet footstep and soft, familiar, “Hey,” brought him out of his reverie.

He shook it off and looked over just as Gwen leaned over beside him, mirroring his posture. “Anything?”

She shook her head, folding her hands in front of her. “Nothing. We checked all his usual places, but no one’s seen him for days. CCTV shows no signs of him leaving the Hub through any of the normal exits. It looks like the Rift claimed one last traveler.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tosh says Jack told her he’s from the 1940s. I know it was him who knew Estelle, not his dad.” She studied her hands, thumbtips circling each other endlessly. “I think maybe, since he’d been here so much longer, it just took the Rift a little longer to take him back is all.”

“The Rift reclaims her own.”

“Yeah.”

They stood there in companionable silence after that, each lost in their own worlds. Finally, he turned to her. “I’m sorry about Rhys. Before. I never would have… I know…” He gave up. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” That little sympathetic smile was so familiar, let him know that she did understand. “And I’m sorry about Diane.” She hesitated, the smile twisting into something more wry. “Well, mostly.”

He couldn’t help smiling in return. “Mostly? Jealous, Cooper?”

“You bet I was.”

Her honest answer surprised him.

“I know I have no right, not with Rhys and all. But I was. Jealous.”

He turned to face her, to really look at her for the first time in what felt like months. “I’ve wished Rhys out of your life more times than I’d like to admit, but not like that. Never like that.”

“I know.” Those enormous eyes looked up at him, giving access to that intimate part of her he’d come to know so well. “If it had been you on that table, I’d have reacted the same way I did for him.”

“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” He reached out to catch her arm, slowly drawing her into his embrace, grateful when she didn’t resist. They just stood there, arms around each other in comfort, in companionship. “So what happens now?” he finally asked, his voice so quiet he could barely hear himself.

“Everything changes,” she answered, more sure, more confident. “We weren’t ready.” When she looked up at him, there was an edge of flint to her eyes that warmed him right through.

“But we’re going to be ready for the next time.”


End file.
